Call It What It Is.....

Let's, for the moment, put aside the political issues in this past election and simply accept the facts that a) this was a fair election with the least amount of irregularities in any election since the beginning of our republic, (which is the conclusion of several bi-partisan experts including Brian Krebs, recently fired head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and b) Joe Biden received the most Electoral College votes and popular votes.  

 

Now I know that 70% of the 74 million voters for Donald Trump simply don't accept those facts because of the right-wing media machine, misinformation by the Trump Campaign, and out and out lying by the President of the United States.  I, frankly, don't know if any of us can do anything about that.  The people who simply accept those lies as gospel are probably not reachable right now.  However, I want to focus on something else which is far more frightening and nefarious.

 

Donald Trump and his henchmen are attempting a coup d'etat  in our country....more specifically

something called an auto-coup, technically.  This is similar to the actions taken in Turkey by Recip Erdogan and in Hungary by Viktor Orbán.  The definition of an auto coup:  a nation's leader, despite having come to power through legal means, dissolves or renders powerless the national legislature and unlawfully assumes extraordinary powers not granted under normal circumstances.  

 

Sound vaguely familiar?

 

What we are witnessing in the United States of America is Donald Trump simply rejecting the will of the people and trying to maintain his presidency by negating the majority voting decision of 80 million people.  His legions are intimidating state legislatures, poll workers, canvassing boards and most egregiously, elected Republican legislators in the Congress and state houses coast to coast.

 

I have referred to the Republican Party as the 'party of death' for their mute conspiring with the President for lying to the public about the Covid pandemic which has now left us with over a quarter of million dead bodies at the hands of the administration because of the rank incompetence of Trump's handling of the crisis.  I will now add to that indictment by accusing the Republican Party at large for being the party of fascism, autocracy and anti-democracy.

 

The Republican party has stood mutely by as this President has attempted to invalidate millions of votes, specifically from the African American majority voting districts of Detroit, MIlwaukee and Philadelphia.  He has mobilized a legal effort to raise fallacious claims of fraud, election rigging, and election 'stealing' without a shred of actual evidence.  All of his lawsuits have been thrown out of court, many with prejudice, which is like the court saying, "Get the hell out of here before I kick you out on your ass!".

 

Trump's legions continue to lie about the fraud in every form of media they can commandeer, while refusing to offer any evidence in court, because that would open them up to censure by the judicial system for lying.

 

In sum, they are attempting to invalidate an election and maintain power by corrupting and trying to overthrow our democracy.  That is their aim.  Take a step back and see it for what it is and don't be afraid to label it for what it is. Trump's Republican party is trying to invalidate our election and is willing to reject democracy and accept autocracy and fascism.  For those who want a definition: fascism-- a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual, and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.

 

Does THAT sound familiar?

 

So, I want you to ask yourself what the Republican party has to say about all this.  With only a few

exceptions, they remain mute and permissive to this assault.  Our Majority Leader of the Senate, McConnell, purses his lips and says, "Don't worry, we'll have an inauguration on Jan. 20th"...but he doesn't say who it will be.  Other Republican leaders want to give Trump 'time to get used to losing the election and pursue all his legal options'.  Never mind that in this election Biden got the exact same amount of Electoral Votes as Trump in 2016 and 3 million more votes in the popular vote.  In 2016, Hillary Clinton immediately conceded and Obama immediately initiated the transition to a new government and a peaceful transition of power.  Do you see the Republican party doing the same thing?

 

That is what is happening in America right now.  And by the skin of our teeth, our institutions seem to be holding together to reject this assault.  Apparently, the Republican party will fail in its attempt to support the auto-coup---this time---, but that will not end the problem we have as a constitutional republic.  Those Republicans are still in power...and rest assured they will not relent in their constant effort to kneecap the new Biden administration.  Remember, they are the party of Autocracy, Fascism and Anti-democracy.  Never forget that!  And the next time when the margin of victory might be much smaller, they might succeed in totally rejecting and abandoning our democratic republic for something else...something that will be a shredded image of what the founders of this great nation envisioned.  

 

We must do everything we can going forward to guard against this effort.

 

 

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